Before the covid pandemic, the Thursday before Midsummer has traditionally been the most traffic-intensive day, but now different conditions apply.
According to tradition, Thursday has been the most intensive traffic day before midsummer because Swedes have used it as a travel day to the countryside, to family and friends, or as the start of the summer vacation. Thus, it has also been the day when most people have problems out on the roads.
As the hybrid work for office work has become more accepted since the covid pandemic, Swedes’ travel habits before midsummer have shifted. Nowadays, instead, both Tuesday and Wednesday are the big travel days, which is also noticeable at SOS International, an organization that provides assistance to people from the Nordics who find themselves in emergency situations abroad.
– Before the pandemic, we staffed up and expected a large onslaught during the afternoon on the Thursday before midsummer, but three years ago, the calls already started on Tuesday and Wednesday. Since then, the trend has continued, says Kristin Charlieson, Specialist, SOS International.
According to the site Trafiken.nu, which shows aggregated information about traffic in the Stockholm and Gothenburg area, it is above all Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday that are the most intensive traffic days on most roads in Stockholm. There is no corresponding traffic diagram for Gothenburg.
